# determine

Pronunciation: say "di-TUR-min" US /dɪˈtɝmɪn/, UK /dɪˈtɜː(ɹ).mɪn/

## Verb

1. To ascertain definitely; to figure out or conclude something through analysis, calculation, or investigation.
   - Simple: To find out something for sure by checking, testing, or working it out.
   - _Investigators worked for weeks to determine the cause of the crash._
   - _Using satellite data, researchers determined that the glacier had retreated two miles._
2. To fix the form or character of something; to shape, regulate, or settle how it will be.
   - Simple: To decide or control what something will be like.
   - _Market forces largely determine the price of grain._
   - _The shape of the riverbed determined the city's early growth._
3. To resolve firmly to do something, or to lead someone to settle on a particular course of action.
   - Simple: To decide firmly to do something, or to make someone decide to do it.
   - _An early failure will often determine a young writer to work twice as hard on the next book._
   - _He determined to sell the farm after the second drought._
4. To bring a question or dispute to a conclusion; to settle or decide it, especially by an authoritative or judicial ruling.
   - Simple: To settle a question or dispute by making a decision, especially an official one.
   - _The Supreme Court will determine whether the law can stand._
   - _The committee determined the appeal in the employee's favor._
5. To set or mark the boundaries or limits of something; to fix its extent.
   - Simple: To set the limits or edges of something.
   - _Old stone walls determine the limits of each pasture._
   - _The treaty determined the new frontier along the river._

## Other meanings

- (verb) To define or limit a general concept by adding a differentia, a distinguishing characteristic that narrows it to a more specific class.
- (verb) To bring something to an end or terminate it; also, to come to an end or expire, now chiefly in legal contexts.

## Origin

Latin 'determinare' ('to bound, limit, fix, determine') was built from 'de' and 'terminare' ('to limit'), which itself rests on 'terminus' ('bound, limit, end'). The word passed into Old French as 'determiner' and then into Middle English as 'determinen'.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/determine (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).